Once Upon A Song
by lightmylumiere
Summary: After all, music is magical. NEW CHAPTERS NOW BEING POSTED!
1. Prologue

*New story time, isn't it?

I just came off my story My Second Chance; which this is nothing like. I'm turning a page. So while waiting for my story "Sweet Sorrow" I am writing this little cute funny musical series.

This story has a backstory, as so many do. Once upon a cold dark night, I was lying downstairs watching Love Never Dies and eating cake when suddenly a song hits me like a ton of bricks and a million songs rush to my head. So out of it comes a singing OUaT cast and lovely... well enough Author's note. Let's move on.*

Prologue: The Magic of Music

Henry, upon his dismissal from the hospital, hummed a new tune. Emma walked beside him, humming the same mysterious tune neither of them recognized. Snow and James stood in the street, humming as well. All around the town, wherever Emma and Henry walked, this same tune was heard and gracious looks were exchanged.

"Mom! Dad!" Emma called out as she ran to the vacant road her parents stood in the center of.

"Emma, Henry." Snow stated calmly, then all humming stopped. The city fell silent and caught everyone off guard. The purple smoke had rolled away and all that was left was the tune in everyone's ears ringing softly. "Was I the only one that heard that?"

"Heard what? The music?" Henry asked, Snow nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty."

"Pretty? Pretty creepy, if you ask me." Emma interjected. Her father glared at her as if telling her to correct herself, although she didn't. "I mean, come on. How does everyone know that anyways? Is it some fairy tale ritual or something?"

"I've never heard it." James announced, Snow nodded in agreement. "Although I'd like to hear it again."

"Do you know what I want?" Emma asked, looking from Henry to her newfound parents. "Let's go to Granny's and get something to eat."

"Speaking of things we want" Snow mentioned, looking to James curiously. "where's the man that never stops wanting things?" Seeing that he hadn't gotten the reference, she corrected the statement. "Rumplestiltkin."

At the well, Belle stood in Rumple's embrace as the melody and smoke subsided. "What did you just bring here?"

"Some new magic we've been needing." Belle raised an eyebrow at this remark. "The magic of music."

*Future chapters will be longer, but this was just the prologue. So... review please!*


	2. Snow

Chapter One: Snow, My White Knight

As Snow swept the apartment, she sang to herself the same tune she had hummed the day before. Emma took Henry to the park and James was asleep, cleaning was necessary for the first week her grandson would be living with her. The only difference, she learned, between yesterday's and today's song was that today she found words to it.

"Knee deep in love" She sang sweetly, the melody roaming around the house as she dusted off a few photo frames. "What a lovely dream!" She saw one of Emma's golden frames holding a photograph of Emma and Henry and Graham. She thought of this family she hardly remembered when it was right under her nose. "And yet, somehow... My love's only half of what I'm longing for now."

It felt good to lament. She swept the kitchen and left Emma's pile of things alone. Thinking of James, she continued the song mindlessly. "I still want to be in love with someone," James was with her again, she remembered as she swept up a dust bunny lurking under the kitchen counter. "but why couldn't there be someone being in love with me?"

A picture of James was left on the counter. It was a recent picture, Snow took it from the dinner the night before. "All I want is a plain man, all I want is a modest man... a quiet man, a gentle man, a straightforward and honest man" Some of her husband's best qualities, these she recognized. She grabbed a framed picture of Henry's class and thought to take out the photo and put the one of her family in, then decided against it. She loved both pictures, but she kept singing about her James anyways. "To sit with me in a cottage in the state of Iowa..."

Iowa? Where the devil was Iowa? And why would she live in a cottage if she lived in a palace... or now a small suburban apartment in need of dusting? This song she was making up made no sense! Unless she wasn't making it up... "and I would like him to be more interested in me" Although she knew he still felt something toward Kathryn... Abigail. "than he's in himself and more interested in us than in me..."

The dryer dinged. The towels were done and needed to be hung in the bathroom after she folded them. She kept singing as she carried the mound of gray and white towels to the dining room table for folding purposes. "And if occasionally he'd ponder what made Shakespeare and Beethoven great..." She sighed as she threw a folded towel onto the other end of the table, smashing on the floor as it slid too far. "him I could love until I die."

This was the truth, which she repeated. "Him I could love until I die."

There was a knock on the door and she instantly zipped her lips shut. This tune, thought she, I like it. But no one else needs to hear it. She opened the door, and James stood there with a bouquet of red and white roses. "For you, my dearest Snow." She accepted the flowers and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You have the prettiest voice, you know that right?" Snow raised an eyebrow. Had he really heard her song?

"How long were you out there, darling?" Snow asked quietly, red creeping into her cheeks. She was embarrassed that he caught her singing about her life.

"Just a couple minutes, I didn't want to interrupt your sweet song." James admitted, seeing her look a little less flustered. "It got this stupid one out of my head."

"But everyone around town was humming this one yesterday." Snow was extremely confused. James shrugged.

"If you say so." He stated, and looked at the pictures on the table. "What a great picture of the family! Do you have a frame?"

She didn't answer. She was still thoroughly perplexed by the humming from yesterday. Was it all the same, or did it just sound the same? Was her mind playing cruel tricks on her, or was that purple smoke confusing everyone? "What song were you hearing, James?"

"Beats me." He answered. "I've never heard it." Seeing how his wife was completely befuddled, he hummed his tune reluctantly. It was like a lullaby almost, something completely and utterly beautiful. She couldn't help but be amazed by its simplicity, the beautiful voice of the shepherd prince she called her husband.

*Please review my lovely chapter two, technically one. So thanks for your time, and please review!*


	3. James

Chapter Two: James, Edelweiss

His wife was asleep in his arms at long last. He had waited many years for something like this. The tune was coming back up, wasn't it? He moved a piece of hair behind her ear and started to sing softly.

"Edelweiss, edelweiss: every morning you greet me." It was interesting, he noticed her mouth turn up into a pink smirk. "Small and white, clear and bright: you look happy to meet me." He had never really studied her as she slept as he had with "David's" wife, nor had he noticed how kind these twenty-odd years they had been apart. Her skin was like ivory, lips like cherries, and eyelids speckled with pending remnants of golden eyeshadow she hadn't felt like removing. His song had to go on. It was continuing inside him.

"Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow" How fitting, thought he, this was all he ever wanted for his princess Snow White. For her to surpass herself in perfection. "bloom and grow forever." He felt odd, singing to her as she slept. What would it be like if she were to wake up? Very awkward, that was for sure. "Edelweiss, edelweiss; bless my home land forever."

In his doorway appeared his not-so-little daughter. "What the hell are you doing?" He looked up at her.

"Emma, what are you doing up so late?" He asked, the concern rising in his voice. "It's midnight."

"Why are singing to her like she's a sleeping baby in need of a lullaby?" He shrugged. Emma wouldn't admit it, but the song was catchy. Before she knew it, she was harmonizing with her father.

"Small and white, clean and bright" He sang to his daughter, as she ran through the same line in a mezzo-soprano range. More extensive than anything he had ever heard, he wondered for a moment who sang better: his singing partner or the one they were singing to. "you look happy to meet me."

James backed down just to hear his daughter sing. She sat down on the bed beside her mother and just looked at the dazed woman. "Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow."

James reached out and put his hand on his sad daughter's cheek to comfort her. She put her hand over his and was careful not to disturb Snow. "Bloom and grow forever." Then he smiled as she hummed a little further. "You know, Emma, you really should get to bed. You've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow, and you've had an insanely eventful day today."

"Dad, you should get to sleep too. Before mom wakes up." Emma suggested as they both stood.

"I'll tuck you back in, Emma." James offered.

"I'm not five, dad, I can tuck myself in thank you."

"But I didn't get to tuck you in when you were five." James added as they started out the door.

Snow's eyes flashed open and the ballad her husband and daughter bonded over was stuck in her head. "Edelweiss, edelweiss; bless my homeland forever."

*Warning: I'm going out of town for a week so I won't be writing... well better put I won't be posting. So... leave a review and thanks!*


	4. Emma

Chapter Three: Emma, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

Emma looked at the tombstone of the former sheriff. Would she tell her parents she snuck out after James "tucked her in"? No, that defeated the purpose of sneaking out.

She didn't really like graveyards. Not at night particularly, nor on a rainy night. But she had to be close to him. He was the only one that ever understood her and she had to just... she didn't know what she had to do, she just needed to get out of "house of un-memories".

She picked the flower from her hair, the one she had received from Granny when the curse was broken. "For you my dear." She placed the flower by the tombstone, humming softly. A song she didn't know, the song she had been humming since the purple smoke. One she once imagined as a wordless lullaby, her humming had- after all- put Henry to sleep. With a tear in her eye words came to her and poured out of her mouth. "You were once a friend, a father... then my world was shattered." She remembered what it felt like to have Graham die in her arms. He had been close to a father for Henry, he was her boss and friend and imaginary lover. And she missed him.

"Wishing you were somehow here again, wishing you were somewhat near." Her voice cracked as the fictional string quartet cut for an a capella. "Somehow it seemed, if I just dreamed... somehow you would be here." The strings started again in her mind, the soft pedal of the piano was pressed yet she still heard it. "Wishing I could hear your voice again, knowing that I never would." She stroked his brown leather jacket as the tears fell on the early morning dew. "Dreaming of you won't help me do all the things you said I would."

Graham always encouraged her doing things, things she thought she couldn't. He made her feel beautiful when she could've been the ugliest person on earth. He died giving her a kiss. She couldn't forget that. "Too many years fighting back tears, why can't the past just die!"

Graham's face was in her mind. He smiled at her, standing in front of her like a ghostly hallucination. "I approve" He mouthed, wearing a black button-down shirt and dark jeans, his curly hair combed neatly and gorgeous as ever. "keep going."

Emma broke down crying, her makeup running down her cheeks. "Wishing you were somehow here again, knowing we must say 'goodbye'... try to forgive, Graham, teach me to live." She folded her hands as though she was praying. "Give me the strength to try!"

She saw this vision of Graham fade to black, and she lay down in the grass beside his burial sight and continued to sing a little more. "No more memories, no more silent tears" She piped, choking on the words. "no more gazing across the wasted years." Emma's voice cracked, and the invisible violins experienced a diminuendo leading to a piano solo riff. "Help me say goodbye."

Emma paused as she saw a few tears fall onto the emerald blades of grass upon which she lied. "Help me say goodbye." And just as though an opera singer, the last note rang out. She felt a hand on her arm and an animal breathing down her neck, hearing a not so distant howl behind her.

*Take a guess, go on I dare you! Review please with a cherry on top!*


	5. Ruby

Chapter Four: Red, Memories

"Ruby?" Emma asked, seeing the woman behind her dressed all in red. "What are you doing out here so late?"

"I'd ask you the same..." Red mused, looking at the blonde inquisitively. "and please, dear, call me Red." Emma didn't say anything, biting her lip as she sat up. "You don't have to hide anything from me, Emma I'm your mom's best friend, your dad's confidant, and your godmother." Emma raised an eyebrow. "Whether or not I'm older than you in Storybrooke."

"They don't want me out here this late, and you have more loyalty to them than you do to me." Emma explained softly, her arms folded across her chest.

"If there's one thing I'm not, Emma, I'm not stupid. Or a tattletale." Red helped Emma stand from her seat. "I suppose that's two things." Emma laughed at the young brunette's ignorance as they walked towards an undetermined destination. "You were mourning Graham, weren't you?"

"Yeah... singing to him, I suppose, I had this blasted song stuck in my head." Red smiled and put her hand up on Emma's shoulder. "Sounded smart, I guess, singing to him instead of... Henry's dad." Red nodded, as though understanding. "You still haven't told me why you're out in the graveyard past midnight."

Red walked a little way from Emma and in a circle. "Basking in some old memories of the one I once loved." Music was playing in Red's head, and she almost thought to start dancing. But instead of her feet moving, her mouth opened and her alto voice began to warble. "Memories: not a sound from the pavement" Emma thought to comment that this pavement she sang of was grass, but continued to hear her sing of her remorse.

"Has the moon lost her memory? She is smiling alone." Red looked up at the full moon behind the thick cloud covering, her green eyes looking haunted for only a moment before she turned away. "In the lamplight" Red scampered to stand under the sole lamp in the yard which flickered above her. "the withered leaves collect at my feet... and the wind begins to moan."

Emma sat under a small gazebo in the center of the town cemetery and listened to the woman sing. Her voice was soulful, even if it wasn't nearly as high as Snow's or Emma's. Red kept singing, thinking only of her last time with Peter; when she tied him to the tree thinking he was the wolf. "Memory, all alone in the moonlight" I'm not alone, Red thought, Emma's right over there. "I can smile at the old days... I was beautiful then..." She spun around in the simple light, Emma stood from her seat and started out the gate of the cemetery. "Where are you going?"

"Dad... he'll be up in a few hours and intends on some father-daughter bonding stuff tomorrow afternoon." Emma smiled and gave Red a quick hug before running away. "I'll be by Granny's before my shift tomorrow morning... please have my coffee ready when I get there!"

Red nodded before she started her music again, singing to her Peter. "I remember the time I knew what happiness was, and the memory lives again."

She remembered when she and Peter were just children. When they were seven, he asked her to dance on Firefly Hill at a big party one summer. She couldn't go because her Granny wouldn't let her. She saw him at dawn and they danced forever. All of that was over, and there was nothing she could do to bring it back. "Touch me! It's so easy to leave me! All alone with my memory of my day in the sun." She decided to begin her triumphant exit so that Granny wouldn't realize- like Emma- that she had left. "If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is... look a new day has begun."

Once again the cemetery was empty, and the town was silent for only a moment.

*And voila! Chapter four is complete! Can you guess who's next? Just a hint: the song's I'm Not That Girl from WICKED.*


	6. Regina

Chapter Five: Regina, I'm Not That Girl

Regina hid in her office under her desk, terrified for her life. She heard the screeches of the angry mob coming for her. Beside her was a framed picture of five-year-old Henry, eating his birthday cake she made. That was before he hated her. Before he found Emma, before he figured out her curse. "Oh, Henry, I really do love you" She whispered to herself, closing the curtains as tightly as she could. "even if you want your real mother more."

She imagined Emma and Henry, that secret bond they had. "Hands touch, eyes meet: sudden silence, sudden heat." Regina sang, not exactly comprehending the impromptu words and how they related to her situation. She had seen her holding his hand as she walked him from Granny's to his bus stop, and that she warmed up only to Henry. "Hearts leap, in a giddy whirl." What? Their relationship wasn't LIKE that, was it? After all, incest was still frowned upon in the fairy tale world. She sighed but continued her little melody. "He could be that boy, but I'm not that girl."

Daniel would've stayed by her side. Henry would've had a father, minus her mother. Then again, if Daniel hadn't died she would've never formed a hatred for Snow White and would've never had a reason to devise he curse. "Don't dream too far, don't lose sight of who you are" Regina seemed to remind herself, holding onto the little gold ring Daniel had given her al those years ago. "don't remember that rush of joy: he could be that boy, but I'm not that girl!"

She thought of Emma in the hospital with Henry. That kiss on his forehead that woke up her baby boy and shattered her curse all the same. "Blithe smile, lithe limb." Words that truly described Emma, she realized. Regina wasn't anywhere near as... regal as princess Emma. She had the best genes of James and Snow alike. "She who's winsome, she wins him. Gold hair, with a gentle curl..." Regina loathed for Snow's wicked curls. The curls Emma had were the ones even models desired. Henry looked like Emma, there was no denying that. "that's the girl he chose and heaven knows... I'm not that girl."

The well-barricaded door flew open and to mob came in with torches, coming for the witch in the night. They didn't leave until the building was burnt to the ground.

*So let's get to the next guessing game, since these chapters are short. The next chapter is the song If I Can't Love Her from Beauty and the Beast (the broadway show, not the movie). This should be a really easy one!*


	7. Rumplestiltkin

Chapter Six: Rumplestiltkin, If I Can't Love Her

Rumplestiltkin looked at Belle as she slept on the purple couch in the pawn shop which he preferred to his home for the evening. He smelled the burning of the mayor's house and saw someone run up to his window. He paid no attention to the face pressed to the glass but rather continued to study himself in Henry's book, wondering to himself how someone like her could've ever loved someone like him.

"And in my twisted face, there's not the slightest trace..." He ran his finger along the surprisingly accurate drawing of himself. Then he looked at her with his growling baritone voice. "of anything that hints of kindness." He saw himself in the reflection of the mirror behind her, this cane-bearing form was far more attractive than the magical monster he had made himself. "And in my tortured shape: no comfort, no escape... I see but within is utter blindness."

Rumple stood and leaned over Belle with an overwhelming grimace. She felt his presence over her and heard him singing, but didn't want him to stop his song. "No beauty can move me, no power can move me, no power on earth if I can't love her." The curtains blew in through the open windows as his voice boomed through the building. How had she slept through that, he wondered, but continued nonetheless. "No passion could reach me! No lesson could teach me! If I can't love her... then who?"

Belle sat up and yawned falsely, stretching her arms. "Oh sorry, dearie, did I wake you?" He asked, she smirked at him.

"No, of course not." She lied, then spoke on a different topic. "I don't think I have ever slept on a couch before, though."

"I'll take you upstairs, then... there's a bed up there." Rumple hissed with fake hospitality. She chuckled softly. "What is it?"

"You were singing." She stated, and he looked at her.

"That's impossible." He stated adamantly. "I don't sing."

"But your curse... bringing back the magic of music?" Belle asked as he lifted her to carry the groggy woman up the stairs.

"A little mockery was all..." He answered stubbornly, "Mr. Gold's" cane sprawled on his desktop. Rumplestiltkin didn't need a silly cane. "just to get the last laugh."

"Well you sing very well." She told him, ignoring his evasion.

"I don't sing." He repeated and led her into a small room with a bed and maroon wallpaper. "Goodnight, Belle."

She rolled onto the bed and cut out the light as Rumple proceeded down the stairs. "Goodnight, love." She whispered to herself, knowing he couldn't hear her.

*If I tell you the character, can you guess the song? Belle's next! Keep up the great work of reviewing!*


	8. Belle

Chapter Seven: Belle, Bound To You

She looked at the clock over the door. Four o'clock. Four o'clock in the morning? She had been staring at the clock since two. There was piano music in her head keeping her awake, and the words came to her- of course- at five past four.

"Sweet love, sweet love... trapped in your love." She lamented, her voice a raspy alto. she pulled the comforter around her head to muffle her voice. "I've opened up, unsure I can trust... my heart and I were buried in dust. Free me, free... us." She heard Rumple walking by her door and silenced for a moment until the footsteps were silent.

"You're all I need... when I'm holding you tight." She put her arms on her shoulders and pretended to hug herself. "If you walk away, I will suffer tonight." She felt a tear hit her pillow as she continued to sing. "I've found a man I can trust, and boy I've believe in us... I am terrified to love for the first time."

She looked at the hospital bracelet around her wrist and rubbed it. "Can't you see that I'm bound in chains? I've finally found my way... I am bound to you, I am bound to you."

She heard Rumplestiltkin click back by, the toes of his shoes then the heels like a dancer of sorts. "Suddenly the moment's here, I embrace my fears! All that I've carried for all these years! Did I risk it all? Come this far just to fall? Fall?"

She heard him walk into the room. "Can't sleep, dearie?" He asked, sitting beside her on the bed. She peered over the blankets as he turned on the light. Only her eyes were visible, and she felt a flush come over her cheeks. "Is there something wrong with the room?"

"Of course not, Rumple." She told him reassuringly. "I suppose it's just been a very long day."

"Oh... okay." He replied as he stood and walked to the door. He finally asked the question he had been avoiding. "Were... were you singing, Belle?"

"Lullaby..." She answered softly, he looked at her with hidden concern. "I always sang myself a lullaby... when I was locked up."

"Well those days are over." Rumple finished, getting up and looking at her again. "Come on, it's four thirty. We have to be up in about three hours, store opens at eight and I'm sure there'll be many curious people coming to see us."

"I'm sure we will." She gave a fake yawn. "Look, I'm really sorry I kept you up so late..."

"It's nothing, dearie" He gave her a toothy grin. "go on and get to sleep. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

When he was well out of sight, she cut out the light and whisper-sang the rest of her song. "I've found a man I can trust, and boy I've believe in us... I am terrified to love for the first time... Can't you see that I'm bound in chains? I've finally found my way. I am bound to you, I am bound to you." She hoped to- for the first time in a while- get some decent sleep.

*Well that's it for this chapter. I hope you've enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy more in the future. Next chapter will be up soon!*


	9. Abigail

Chapter Eight: Abigail, Think Of Me

The walls were covered with framed photographs of "Kathryn" and "David", how happy they seemed to be. She sat on the couch, sipping coffee from a black mug. Usually she would have "David" go to Granny's for her, but that seemed to be out of the cards. She would wait for her "prince charming", but he was probably long since gone. She was without the man she really loved and the man she had grown so fond of. Princess Abigail was at a loss.

She missed her husband "David", but she really missed her lost Frederick. Where was he? What if he wasn't even here? Or worse, what if he liked his Storybrooke life better than her? The song in her head addressed this predicament. "Think of me, think of me fondly when we said goodbye." She warbled, knowing few people other than her woke up at five thirty in the morning on Saturdays. "Remember me, once in a while, please promise me you'll try."

There was a photograph of "David" the day he was released from the hospital. With how his hair was combed and how he was dressed, he didn't look like a prince. He especially didn't look like a hero. But even this "David", the James she considered a brother, was nothing compared to her unknown Frederick. "Then you'll find that once again you long to take your heart back and be free-" Despite her singing, the princess wasn't reassured by this. Taking his heart back? James or Frederick? This was a blunder. "if you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me."

She danced around for a moment, sitting her coffee on the table beside her on a coaster. Her robe swayed like the gowns she had grown accustomed to, the jeans and blouses she had weren't quite as lavish as she would've liked. After the imaginary piano riff came to a close, she continued to sing softly. "We never said our love was evergreen; or as unchanging as the sea. But if you still remember, stop and think of me." As she hummed the little snippet that came next, she shook her head and muttered. "Too high a key."

She saw the seven dwarfs dawdling past her window, probably heading from the mines to visit James and Snow and their clan. The town was booming for the time. Red wandered down the street aimlessly, probably lovestruck under the lighting of the moon. Granny stood on the porch of her diner, feeding the angry mob inside after their successful burning of the mayor's mansion. "Flowers fade, the fruits of summer fade: they have their seasons so do we. But please promise me that sometimes you will think... of me."

She sank back down and looked at the deep black coffee in her mug. Disgusted, she took off her housecoat with a vow to go get dressed and head to Granny's for something lighter. She grabbed her purse as she came back down the stairs in a black cotton dress she had found in the back of "Kathryn's" closet, and headed out the door.

Across the street, a man ran to catch up with her to no avail. She was long gone, and he was left by her window. Frederick was in a pickle. "Long ago, it seemed so long ago; how young and innocent we were... she may not remember me, but I remember her."

They walked in their opposite directions, thinking about each other without the nerve to look back.

*Well I had done a lot of romantic-happy-ending stories, I had to turn around for a moment. Review anyways, you know I reward quite well for that!*


	10. Ella

Chapter Nine: Ella, I Dreamed a Dream

"I dreamed a dream in time gone by" Ella sang as a lullaby to the sleeping baby Alexandra in her arms. "when hope was high and life worth living." Alexandra was already asleep, of course, but Ella couldn't stop the lovely song on that Saturday afternoon as she put Alexandra down for a nap. "I dreamed that love would never die... I hoped that god would be forgiving."

Ella continued to rock the little girl as she chirped. "When I was young and unafraid" I am still young, Ella told herself, I'm still nineteen for crying out loud! "and dreams were made and used and wasted... there was no ransom to be paid: no song unsung, no wine untasted." Although, Ella wondered, she was too young to legally drink wine, and with a young child "Sheriff Swan" turned Princess Emma would certainly raise Cain.

"But the tigers come at night" Tigers? Really, tigers? Ella hadn't even seen a real tiger in her life. How could she ever imagine tigers sneaking around at night? "with their voice as soft as thunder... as they tear your hopes apart, as they turn your dreams to shame!"

Alexandra stretched and looked up at her mother at the eternally held note. How sad it must be, Ella thought, for Snow and James to miss the childhood of their beautiful baby daughter. If Ella hadn't known Alexandra she would've been heartbroken. But it would've been even worse after twenty eight years. She couldn't even envision their family troubles. "And still I dreamed he'd come to me... that we would spend the years together." Thomas was probably at lunch break at work, she figured. "But there are dreams that cannot be and there are storms we cannot weather."

She would be a princess in her late forties right now. "I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I live in: so different now from what it seems" Ella didn't want to live in a time trap, a capsule that never destroyed itself. She wished for wrinkles and her almost-thirty daughter, but at least she knew this little girl she had always loved. "now life has killed the dream I dreamed."

Ella was almost as asleep as Alexandra in the rocking chair, unable to resist the idea of a nap. With as little sleep as she had gotten the night before, she closed her eyes, held her daughter close to her, and tried to sleep a moment.

*And that's all for now. Thanks and please review!*


	11. Thomas

Chapter Ten: Thomas, Your Eyes

He found his wife asleep in the rocking chair in Alexandra's nursery, the baby chortling in her arms. Alexandra had clearly just woken up, but Ella was still fast asleep. Amazed, Thomas picked up the guitar that sat nearby, although he had never noticed it there before. He strummed softly, and started this ballad to his beautiful wife. "Your eyes as we said our goodbyes... can't get them out of my mind, and I find I can't hide"

Briefly Thomas remembered being ripped away from his wife, being reunited with "Ashley" in this bizarre unwanted world. "from your eyes, the ones that took me by surprise" Those crystal blue eyes he saw as they approached him at the ball. "the night you came into my life. Where there's moonlight, I see your eyes."

How were his fingers moving so quickly along the frets strumming the top three strings? He had never played a guitar in his life! How did one appear in his house? And how was Ella not waking up if she could at the drop of a hat? Yet Thomas couldn't ask any of these questions, he had to ask different ones. "How'd I let you slip away when I'm longing so to hold you? Now I die, for one more day because there's something I should've told you... yes there's something I should've told you..."

He continued to watch his wife as Alexandra wriggled from her mother's grip. "When I looked into your eyes: why does distance make us wise?" After being away from Ella for so long, he seemed to forget how to love her. No, not just her. Everyone. "You were the song all along, and before the song dies!" Wait, Ella was dying? Why wasn't he informed of this? This was beyond explanation! Ella was dying and mysterious instruments suddenly are allowed to appear around his house?

"I should tell you, I should tell you... I have always loved you" He walked over to his wife and kissed his wife on her forehead, putting the guitar down. He took Alexandra and put her in her crib. "you can see it in my eyes."

Alexandra looked up at her father smiling with a toothless grin. "Daddy" She exclaimed, as she laid down. After a mental guitar riff, Thomas bent down on his knees and sang out a last line.

"MIMI!" This certainly got Ella's attention. She snapped awake almost instantly and glared at her husband.

"And who on earth is Mimi?" Ella asked defensively, folding her arms across her chest. Thomas was a dead man and he knew it.

"I have no idea." Thomas said honestly. "I guess that's what I named my guitar."

"What guitar?" Ella interrogated. This was a bad path of answering, good thing he had proof.

Thomas gestured behind him. "Right there." Seeing the look of disapproval on Ella's face, he turned around.

There was nothing there.

*Well, I forgot one kind of very important character, and I was thinking about skipping him. But I can't. Someone mentioned him and he's... well, he's mad as a hatter. So here's to this NOT being the last chapter. Goodnight.*


	12. Jefferson

Chapter Eleven: Jefferson, The Beauty Underneath

Where was his Grace? She had told her parents she was going to visit Henry in the hospital, he saw her do that on Friday. But where was she? It was late on Saturday. Regina had stumbled over, battered barely by the mob he accidentally started. Grace was gone, but did that have anything to do with Regina?

Henry sat on the stool at Granny's beside Jefferson and sipped his hot chocolate as coolly as Jefferson had his coffee. "Your Paige's dad right?" Henry asked softly, catching Jefferson's attention. "Her real dad, Jefferson right?"

"Yeah." Jefferson grumbled. Did this boy know something of his Grace? "Her name's Grace."

"Of course. I'm still getting used to this." Henry said, smiling. The man's face didn't change a bit. "My mom told me a little bit about you."

"Is that so?" Jefferson asked, suddenly a little more interested in the boy. "Like what?"

"You kidnapped Ms. Blanchard... um, Snow... Grandma." Henry clarified. "That you believed she was the savior, just like I did."

"I had reason to believe." Jefferson snorted. This boy certainly had some issues to work out, even if he was a prince. "You know, you remind me a little of myself." Henry raised an eyebrow. "A little off-kilter. It's a relief, I thought it was just me." And Grace, of course, but he figured that was self-explanatory. This was different. Why would Emma have told her son about him? "Come with me."

Imaginary electric guitars played as he drove him to his mansion on a hillside, nearing the edge of Storybrooke. As they entered the door, Jefferson pulled Henry to the side and started to sing.

"Have you ever yearned to go past the world you think you know, then enthralled to the call of the beauty underneath?" What incredibly long and beautiful sentences! "Have you let it draw you in to the place where dreams begin? Felt the full breathless pull of the beauty underneath?" Henry was dragged into the living room and sunk down on a fluffy white couch. The place looked very modern, Henry wondered how on earth Grace remained so humble and level-headed in a place like this. "When the dark unfolds it's wings do you sense the strangest things? Things no one would ever guess, things mere words cannot express?"

Breathless by how Jefferson was reading him, Henry breathed a reply. "Yes."

The lyrical interrogation continued. "Do you feel yourself beguiled by the dangerous and wild? Do you feed on the need of the beauty underneath?" So many words, many words Jefferson hadn't used before. What was THIS sorcery! "Have you felt your senses search and surrender to the urge, then been hooked as you looked at the beauty underneath?" He continued as the guitars got louder, his tenor voice somehow shrill and comforting. "When you stare behind the night can you glimpse it's primal might? Might you hunger to possess; hunger that you can't repress?"

"Yes." Henry whispered, his voice soft and sweet compared to Jefferson's. He looked around the room and saw the art-deco pieces on the walls, the floral wallpaper, and couldn't help but be amazed by the eclectic styling. "It seems so beautiful, so strange yet beautiful... everything's just as you said." What had Jefferson said about beauty? Were these in response to the questions or something deeper.

"And he's so beautiful; perhaps TOO beautiful. What I suspect cannot be." What did Jefferson suspect anyways? Even he couldn't tell for sure. "And yet somehow we both see the very same way!"

Now it was Henry's turn to ask the questions. "Is there music in your head? Have you followed where it led? And been graced with the taste of the beauty underneath?" Jefferson nodded in a reply. "Does it fill your very sense? Is it terribly intense? Tell me you need it too! Need the beauty underneath!"

Jefferson took this as a moment to sing with the boy who wanted to find someone like him. Jefferson had found a child version of himself. "When you lift your voice and sing: don't you feel amazing things? Things you know you can't confess. Things you thirst for none the less..."

"And it's so beautiful" Henry continued, looking at the artwork as Jefferson led him up the stairs to a secret room only one beside Jefferson had ever seen. "almost too beautiful... do you see what I see?" Jefferson looked at him. "It's heavenly."

"To him it's beautiful. My world is BEAUTIFUL!" No one had ever thought that of Jefferson's obscene alternate universe!

"How can this be what it seems? All of my most secret dreams somehow set free?" Henry concluded the line and Jefferson looked at him sternly.

"Can you feel this?"

"Yes"

"Come closer: you've no fear of the beauty underneath?" Then Henry had a miniature vocal run before Jefferson continued this musical conversation. "You can face it?"

"Yes"

"You can take it?"

"Yes!"

"You see through the beauty underneath!" He led him into a room with the hat in it, putting the remainder of the poisoned apple in and spinning it. A whorl of purple smoke emerged. "To the splendor"

"Splendor" Henry echoed.

"And the glory!"

"Glory"

"To the truth of the beauty underneath?"

"The beauty underneath" What a wonderful hat, thought Henry.

"You'll accept it?" Jefferson grabbed Henry's wrist.

"Yes!"

"You'll embrace it?" Jefferson neared the hat and Henry joined him semi-unwillingly.

"Yes!"

"Let me show you the beauty underneath!"

They jumped into the hat, a faint scream was heard and nothing else was seen.

*Le gasp! Well that's the end. I hope you liked it.*


	13. Granny

_Well I've been gone for a while, haven't I? Oh well, I said I finished "Once Upon A Song" and I definitely lied. They have introduced so many nice new characters I like, so I __**will**__ continue my song-fic. But still these are all musical songs, and I have only heard more musicals since I started this story (including my __**first lead**__ in a show entitled "Once Upon A Mattress"). So we're going to continue this now, with Granny. Enjoy and review._

Granny: Many Moons Ago

Granny was left to babysit Alexandra while Thomas and Ella helped Snow, James, and Emma find Henry (who had mysteriously disappeared earlier. There were several other children around, looking for their families but couldn't find them. She took them under her wing for a little while, hoping that soon enough they would have a true home. "Granny," a little girl who called herself Paige in Storybrooke and Grace back home asked of the white haired woman in the diner. "it's getting late. Maybe a story for the kids 'round here?"

Granny sat down on the barstool and, to Grace's command, started to sing a little story. "Many moons ago in a far off place lived a handsome prince with a gloomy face for he did not have a bride." Granny, for only a moment, was confused by her own words. She didn't know this story, the tune just took over. "And he sighed 'alas' and he pined 'alas' but alas! The prince couldn't find a lass that would suit his mother's pride."

A few of the children that were at Granny's yawned as she sang a little more. Red crept through the door as quietly as she could. "For a princess is a delicate thing, delicate and dainty as a dragonfly's wing. You can recognize a lady by her elegant hair… but a genuine princess is exceedingly rare."

Red snuck behind the counter hoping Granny didn't see her circle around during the song. It was odd to hear Granny sing: she occasionally sang a lullaby to Alexandra when she was babysitting, but never a song quite like this one. "On a stormy night through the castle door came a lass the prince had been waiting for! 'I'm a princess lost', quote she." Stories of princesses and royal kingdoms weren't just fairy tales anymore. People, Red realized, perhaps recognized stories such as this. But she didn't, and she didn't think Granny did either.

"But the queen was cruel and remained aloof, and she said 'perhaps but we'll need some proof, I'll prepare a test and see'." Granny took a pause while an imaginary pit orchestra took over. The restaurant was silent. "Though the bed was soft and extremely tall, the dainty lass didn't sleep at all, and she told them so next day. Said the queen, 'my dear, if you felt that pea, then we've proof enough of your royalty! Let the wedding music play.' And the people shouted quietly:"

A few barely awake children hollered. "Hooray!"

"For a princess is a delicate thing, delicate and dainty as a dragonfly's wing. You can recognize a lady by her elegant hair… but a genuine princess is exceedingly rare!" Granny stood and looked to Red with the tune now missing from her head. "Have they found him yet?"

"Nope." Red admitted, feeling guilty about Henry. Where could he have gotten himself to? "They think they know a few more places to look."

"Good. Keep me posted, and lock up for the night. I need to get over to the Bed and Breakfast." Granny went out the back door, leaving Red to watch the children sleeping in the diner.

_I know it's short, but it's a start. This story has been on hiatus for about a year now, after all, but there will be more to come I PROMISE! So please review._


	14. Grace and Henry

_Next chapter right? Well, I couldn't resist using this one song for two characters, I just thought it was fitting with the plotline so far. Keep in mind that this is entirely non-canon, so enjoy this chapter._

_Last chapter's song, by the way, was Many Moons Ago from __Once Upon A Mattress__. _

_This chapter's song is Maybe from __Annie__. Enjoy and please review!_

Grace/Henry: Maybe

Grace sat on top of the table at Granny's diner, watching as Red turned out the lights of the restaurant. All the other children missing their families were asleep, all except her. She expected to see her father run down the street to see her. She hugged her knees to her body and sang a little tune to herself. "Maybe far away, or maybe real nearby… he may be pouring her coffee, he may be straightening his tie."

She didn't know her mother, but she know she was singing about her and her Papa. What if they were both here, somewhere lurking, looking for her? "Maybe in a house all hidden by a hill, she's sitting playing piano or he's sitting paying a bill…"

Henry sat with Jefferson in a round room at the bottom of the hat. There were different looking doors all over the walls. "Why did you take me here? Away from my family?" Jefferson only chuckled, looking up at the ceiling.

"It worked! It worked!"

"Yes, your hat worked. Now can we go back? I want to see my mom, I want my grandma and my grandpa." Henry pouted. Jefferson continued to stare at the ceiling, the electric guitars suddenly silencing in his mind. He realized that he didn't exactly do what he wanted: he wanted to get Grace through the hat, not the boy!

"Go back?" Jefferson glared at the boy. "No, we can't go back. There's no way to go back now! We have to get Grace through the hat, then we can be a family! Go to Wonderland, get her mother…"

"Whoa whoa whoa." Henry held up his hands in the man's face. "I've got a family in Storybrooke! It's a nice place, remember? There's magic now too! Once I get back, I'm sure Grace would go anywhere with you, but I need my family…"

"Too bad." Jefferson didn't take pity on the boy. How could he? The child had been gone less than 24 hours, and he and his Grace… "Imagine twenty eight years away from your family."

Henry pouted once more. "Unless we go back you can't get your Grace, and if you keep me here I'll never see my family again."

Jefferson shrugged. There was no way he could win when he was arguing with Henry Mills. "I'll see what I can do. You just entertain yourself, and don't go near any of the doors."

Henry heard that tune again. It was slow, slower than the other songs that he had heard around Storybrooke. Everyone was singing nowadays. "Betcha they're young, betcha they're smart. Bet they collect things like ashtrays and art." He sang about his parents. He didn't know his father, but he knew he was a dead. A hero, that's what Emma called him. And he had his mom, both of his moms. Emma and Regina. "Betcha they're good, why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me…"

Jefferson listened in on Henry's song, smiling to himself. Henry just kept singing his sweet little song. "So maybe now it's time, and maybe when I wake, they'll be there calling me 'baby'… maybe…"

A swirling purple vortex appeared, tearing apart the ceiling of the little hat-room. Jefferson grabbed the boy's arm. "Hang on, kid."

"Betcha he reads, betcha she sews—maybe she's made me a closet of clothes!" Grace sang quietly with no hesitation. If her mama was here, no doubt she had an entire room set up for Grace… if she remembered her. "Maybe they're strict—as straight as a line—don't really care as long as they're mine!" She folded her hands together and looked out the window one last time before turning away, knowing her father wasn't there. "Maybe now this prayer's the last one of its kind: won't you please come get your baby? Maybe…"

_Well that's it. Grace and Henry shared the song, I figured it was fitting. But Henry and Jefferson are going home! Woo! That deserves a few reviews, right?_


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